The U.S. House of Representatives has approved a stop gap one-week funding bill to give lawmakers more time to pass a bill to fully fund the federal government through its fiscal year on September 30, 2023.
The stopgap measure, known as a “continuing resolution,” is needed to avert a partial shutdown of federal agencies that would otherwise begin on Saturday.
It passed 224 votes to 201, largely along party lines, with nine Republicans voting for the measure.
Congressman Joe Sempolinski voted no, as he said he would in his weekly media call. Sempolinski said there’s a big problem with how Congress does budgeting, “We’re not anywhere close to regular order. We’re not anywhere close to how this is supposed to be done. And in this particular case, no House Republicans have been part of this negotiations. This is just Democrats fighting with Democrats and also including some Senate Republicans, arguing about how much to increase spending. They’re not fighting about, ‘Should we keep spending the same, or should we cut spending when we’re in a significant deficit?’ They’re talking about how much to increase spending.”
Top congressional negotiators announced on Tuesday an agreement on a framework for the full-year “omnibus” bill. They did not reveal the amount of money they had agreed on, though it is expected to exceed last year’s $1.5 trillion.
In addition to funding the U.S. government, the package is expected to include aid for Ukraine in its fight against the Russian military and a bill reforming the way the United States certifies presidential elections.
House Republicans object to a full-year bill, saying they would prefer to vote on funding the government early next year when they take majority control of the chamber and will have more power to slash domestic spending.
Leave a Reply